CAIRO: Multinational "science company, DuPont, showcased its latest range of building and construction solutions at the 'Interbuild' exhibition, at the Cairo International Convention Centre (CICC) June 21-25. The company operates in a number of sectors ranging from agriculture, nutrition, electronics and communications, to security, transportation and apparel. Its home and construction products however were on display at the CICC, and among them were materials used for glass lamination systems, and coating and paint products. One of the products it was promoting most vigorously at the exhibition was the component Titanium Dioxide, which is used in plastics, paint and other forms of coating, as well as surfaces like kitchen and bathroom counters. DuPont, which operates in more than 70 countries and set up in Egypt in 2000, also markets itself as a company committed to "sustainable development. 'Zodiac' is one of their biggest-selling sustainable components, says Egypt Country Manager Anteoine Rizkallah, who was manning the DuPont stall at the CICC. In Egypt this component is used for construction and lasts for "20-30 years. Rizkallah hopes it will eventually replace the use of natural stone, like granite, entirely. Another, 'Elvaloy,' is used for building roads and upgrading the quality of pavements, preventing rotting and cracks. It can even be applied to airport runways. Despite the fact that many of its clients are industry giants, and that they boast Egyptian government contracts, DuPont's Egyptian office numbers only 15 people, though Rizkallah expects that to grow to 18 next year. In this regard their turnover in 2006, $37 million, is more impressive still. Rizkallah says Egypt's business sector is an "encouraging environment, and attributes much of DuPont's success to this fact. "Economic restructuring has attracted much investment, he said. Areas in which Rizkallah expects DuPont to expand include agriculture and food development. To this end DuPont have developed the 'Qualicon' machine, which dramatically reduces the time it takes to test food and medicine. "It used to take about seven days to test a product, said Rizkallah. "Now it will take a couple of hours.
